


Product Demonstration

by 3wisellamas



Category: OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes
Genre: Gen, and Baby Darrell at that!, another short and sweet ficlet because I can, tiny cowboy shenanigans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-19
Updated: 2019-02-19
Packaged: 2019-10-31 06:14:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17843978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/3wisellamas/pseuds/3wisellamas
Summary: A quick flashback to the early days of Boxmore.





	Product Demonstration

"I have to admit, what we've seen so far is quite impressive, 'Lord' Boxman."  Cosma skimmed through her copy of the printouts once again and sighed. "However, we're still on the fence about funding your business."

"On the fence?!"

"Frankly, it's just not enough.  We like that you've already got concrete development roadmaps for these products, and that those plans include the extensive combat and hard labor capabilities we were looking for."

She frowned.  Had she not been projected into the office over a relatively faint holo-screen, one would be able to clearly see the thin stream of smoke curling up from her nostrils.  "It's just that one of those product lines, that Jethro one? It's still unfinished. You've provided plans for only a few versions of that model, far less than the other three."

"Well, I, uh..."  Boxman tapped his desk absentmindedly as he wracked his brain for an explanation.  "I just, you know...We all get a little...creative block sometimes, right?" He shrugged.  "Things have slowed down just a little around here with my former partner leaving but I promise you, I'll finish up all of his iterations and get them to you right away!"

"That's not the only problem with your pitch, Boxman.  Plans are one thing, but we have yet to see a demonstration of any of Boxmore's products, nor any sales, other than the Junkfish lines.  And those..." Cosma pinched her nose scales and growled softly. "If we do choose to invest in your business, those have to go. We're interested in these new products, not them."

"O-Oh yes, don't you worry Cosma, the Junkfish are absolutely being phased out as we speak!"  Boxman laughed nervously. "In fact, I'm stopping their assembly lines this week, and once the space is cleared I'll start mass-producing my new robots immediately!"

Her yellow eyes widened.  "These aren't even _in production_ yet?"

"Oh boy..."  Lord Boxman shrunk in his chair, his heart sinking.  Another investment pitch already down the tubes. "Okay, look, I know how that sounds, but I can assure you, they'll, uh..."  He paused. One last chance to save it now. "Were the scones I sent you good at least?"

"My nephew and niece liked them."  Boxman's heart sank even further.

"I liked 'em too!"  A tiny voice rang out from somewhere under Boxman's desk.  He immediately glanced down at his feet to find Darrell, dragging one of his toy cars across the carpet near the chair leg and giggling.

"Oh no."  Boxman tried to discreetly kick the small child away.  "You know you're not supposed to interrupt Daddy when he's working," he whispered.  "Go on, shoo!"

"Um," Cosma interrupted, "Lord Boxman, do you...need a minute?"

"No, no!  It's fine!  Everything's just fine!"  Boxman glared at his son. "Darrell.  Out of my office, now."

"But Daddy, you promised!"  The little robot tugged on his pant leg.  "You promised you would make us blunch today to cele...celibate!"

"Darrell, _get out of my office,_ " he hissed, turning back to the screen.  "I may need a minute, Cosma. My sincerest apologies..."

"Who's the floaty lady?"  Darrell effortlessly pulled himself up the side of the desk, coming into full view of the camera, to his father's horror.

"Hello there."  Cosma quickly pushed down her irritation at the interruption, and tried only to smile at the child.  "What's...your name, little one?"

"Darrell."  He studied the holographic screen for a few seconds, then reached a tiny claw out to try and touch Cosma's snout.  It went through the screen, to the boy's surprise, and he gave a disappointed yelp. "Are you real?"

Boxman roughly pulled Darrell into his arms.  "I'm so sorry, Cosma, I really, honestly thought I'd locked the door, and I'll get him right out of here..."

She held up a hand to stop him.  "No, no, it's fine. If it's okay, Lord Boxman, I'm pleased to meet Darrell."

As she spoke, Cosma covertly flipped to the Darrell model's blueprints off-camera.  The robot she saw on her screen matched the robo-toddler variant exactly.

"How old are you, Darrell?" she asked as Boxman reluctantly allowed his son to sit on the desk once again.

The robot thought for a few seconds, eventually using his fingers to count.  "Daddy made me..." He held up four fingers. "Four weeks ago!"

"Four weeks?"  Cosma kept a playful tone in her voice for the child's benefit.  "You're already a very big boy for your age, Darrell!"

Darrell gave a big smile at the compliment.  "Uh-huh! And Daddy says I'm gonna be even bigger when I get another upgrade!"

"And when will that be?"  Cosma glanced back at Boxman expectantly.

"Uh..."  He tapped his fingers together.  "When I...can...afford it?" He squeaked out the last two words at a volume just above a whisper, and once again tried to pick up and move the very reluctant (and very squirmy) Darrell off of the desk.  "Okay, that's enough, time for Daddy to finish his meeting."

"No!"

"Lord Boxman, really, I'm quite interested in seeing Darrell in operation here.  He seems to be very well-programmed." Cosma held up her printouts. "Much more than I'd expected just from reading these.  It may even be enough to make your pitch worth our time after all..."

Boxman dropped the robot right back onto the desk at her words.  "Well, go on, son! Show Ms Cosma what you've got!"

"Huh?"  Darrell looked back at him, confused, but then after some consideration he held up his toy car.  "I've got a car!"

Cosma smiled once again.  "You do have a car."

"It's red!"  He hugged the toy.  "Red's my favorite color because I'm red too!"

"Are there other robots like you around there, Darrell?  Can you tell me what colors they are?"

"Yeah!  My sister Shannon is orange, and my brother Ernesto is purple, and my baby brother Jethro is blue!"  Darrell giggled. "And all the Junkfish are red and gray and green! But Daddy said they're not my brothers and sisters..."

"Hm, so the others are all currently active as well..."  Cosma quickly jotted down a few notes into the margins of her papers as she conversed with Darrell.

"Yes, well, Cosma, I um..."  Boxman stammered at the topic coming up again.  "They’re all active, just not being mass-produced.  They're, uh...not quite mature enough for their hivemind programming yet."

"Mature enough?"  Cosma glanced between Boxman and Darrell.

"Yes, I'm...I'm trying a new approach with their AI.  Probably should have written that out in their plans..."  Boxman puffed out his chest. "I've programmed them to develop in a more natural way, simulating actual children that will grow up into the perfect robot henchmen!"

He patted Darrell a few times on the head.

"Hm, so that explains all of these different ages you're planning to build them at."  She glanced through Darrell's blueprints again, skimming over the robo-child, robo-preteen, and robo-teen concepts.

She shifted her tone back to speak to Darrell.  "So, you're going to grow up to be an evil henchman, and fight heroes?"

"Yeah, that's what Daddy says I'm gonna be!"  Darrell laughed, and hopped a few times on the desk in excitement.  "I'm gonna be really big and really strong, and I'm gonna fight lots of heroes and destroy the plaza!"

"The...plaza?"

"Oh, don't worry about that Cosma," Boxman assured her, "They all just...really hate that shopping plaza across the street, so I promised them they'll get to destroy it someday!"

"Yeah!  Because Daddy told us to," Darrell chimed in as Boxman glared.

"And, um, when I grow up..."  Darrell looked down a little sheepishly, but still with a small smile on his face.  "I'm gonna be a cowboy too!"

Cosma exchanged a shocked look with Boxman.

"A...cowboy?"

"Yep!  I'm gonna be the best cowboy robot hen...hetchman ever when I'm all grown up!"  Darrell giggled and smiled wider, showing off a mouth full of razor-sharp metal teeth.

Boxman hurriedly tried to sputter out an explanation.  "I'm s-sorry, Cosma, he's...he's just been..." He sighed, slumping forward in defeat.  "He's going through this...phase right now. We watched this, uh, movie together, about toys coming to life or something like that, and he's just been _obsessed_ with cowboys ever since."

He wrung his hands.  "I can assure you, this will _not_ be present when he goes into full production!"

"It's all right," Cosma laughed, "He reminds me so much of my sister's little hatchlings.  Kids are just like that at his age, so I understand it perfectly."

"You...you do?"

"Of course, Boxman."

She cleared her throat.  "And, well...I'll need to discuss all this a bit further with the rest of the board.  But, I do want to say that, given all this new information..." She momentarily glanced back at Darrell, who listened closely without a clue what any of it meant.  "...I will recommend giving Boxmore some provisional funding."

Boxman's face immediately lit up at the news.

"And if we're pleased with what we see going forward, with that...interesting new AI technique you’re using, we can certainly negotiate a deal for full funding."  She smiled, genuinely. "Congratulations."

"Is that good, Daddy?"  Boxman laughed, and raised Darrell up over his head, to the child's delight.

"Yes, it's very, very good, my little son!"  He brought Darrell back down onto his lap and turned back to the holo-screen.

"Th-Thank you, Cosma!  I promise you, that negotiation will happen soon!  Boxmore will not let you down, you can count on that!"

 

\---

 

"Boxmore will not let you down again, you can count on that!"

"I do hope so..."  She sighed in a mix of frustration and relief as she glanced at the robot on her holo-screen.  "You definitely can't waste our time much worse than Lord Boxman did. But, I still have very high hopes for you as CEO, Darrell."

"Actually, it's _Lord Cowboy_ Darrell now, Ms Cosma."  Darrell tipped his cowboy hat to reveal his eye, flashing her a wide grin.

That same wide smile, full of razor-sharp teeth.

"If you insist."  She couldn't help but chuckle a little, but quickly stifled it.  "Lord Cowboy Darrell, I look forward to what you bring to the table.

"Oh, you just wait!"  He giggled in triumph.  "I've got a lot of big plans, things my dad never even thought of!  I'll send you all of it!"

The robot ended their short video call, eager to show off his new identity to his siblings-turned-employees, leaving Cosma to finalize Boxman's termination.  But as she worked, she broke out into laughter again, with no more need to remain professional.

"Sure, just a phase, Boxman..."

  
  
  



End file.
